The attack came just before dawn, when the sky was just gray
enough to see the swarming silhouettes but not light enough to detail them.

Xena vaulted over the fire at the first sensing of them, all
quicksilver motion and dark haired ferocity as she rushed to meet the
hooters,with Gabrielle a bare
step behind her.

Bard and warrior joined a cursing, struggling Pony with her
back pressed against the rock, both hands fending off grasping, hairy fingers.
“Son of a bacchae!”

“You called?” Xena neatly chopped off a scattering of
miscellaneous digits, then reversed her sword and smashed the nearest hooter in
the face with the hilt. “Stupid bastards.. think they’d give up.”

“Xena!”

The volume alone warned her. Xena felt time slow down, as
she shifted her body and swiveled, allowing her instincts full play to react to
whatever it was that caused Gabrielle’s warning.

Out of the mist, her eyes picked up the unexpected outline
of an arrow shaft, and it was in truth only her reflexes that saved her
life.In almost fascination, she
watched as her left hand flickered into motion, her fingers closing around the
arrow and stopping it just shy of her chest.

Her heart beat on steadily, unfazed, her body accustomed to
dealing with this kind of threat even though her mind slid halfway into shock
at the hooter’s assumption of their weapons with such amazing aptitude.

Only halfway, because as she caught and tossed aside the
arrow, another headed her way and the world sped up again as she settled down
to the dangerous business of war. “Gabrielle! Geddown!”

“Knew she was going to say that.” Gabrielle scuttled behind
her partner, acknowledging that undaunted courage didn’t preclude not wanting
to get nailed with an arrow. “Damn, Xena!”

“Tell me!” Xena slashed at a pair of oncoming hooters, who
abruptly dropped to the ground, and then rolled towards them, now visible
sticks in their hands stabbing at her legs.

Pointed ends.The warrior jumped and landed on two of them, pinning the erstwhile
weapons to the ground while she savagely hacked at the arms holding them,
chopping through bone and skin and sending hair flying everywhere.

Gabrielle’s staff whisked between her strokes, knocking back
a charging hooter, his hands outstretched towards her and his eyes wide. He
went down with a grunt and a second later the back end of the bard’s weapon
caught him above the ear with a loud crack.

“Thanks.” Xena ducked under two more sets of grasping arms
and gutted the closer owner, twisting her arms sideways and jerking them back
just as Gabrielle stepped around her and nailed her other opponent between the
eyes with the butt end of her staff.

Fighting in close quarters like this came as second nature
to both of them these days, and Xena now had total confidence in her partner’s
abilities; but that had taken years to work out between them and many near
misses and whacks in the head had come between then and now.

Gabrielle was dangerous with that staff. To her enemies, and
also, if she was off-target, to anyone in her vicinity who had the misfortune
to get in her way.It was only a
big stick, true, but swung with the speed Gabrielle could swing it, and with
the bard’s compact, muscular weight behind the motion it could break bone with
ease.

It did now, and the hooter went down with a scream, clutching
at his face as blood flew.Xena
didn’t hesitate to take advantage of his confusion, she brought the hilt of her
sword down on the top of his head with all the force of her arms, and had the
satisfaction of seeing his head snap to one side, neck broken by the blow.

No time to enjoy it, though, as she had to whirl and team up
with Pony to shove back four or five of the brutes who’d surrounded the weapons
master.

Pony had a typically Amazon sword handling style, and her
weapon was shorter than Xena’s was to accommodate her lesser inches and
slighter frame. She used the blade as both offense and defense and tended to
slash and cut more than Xena did.

Most of that was strength. Xena risked sticking her sword
deep into the bodies of her enemies because she knew she had the power to pull
it back out again, and not have their collapsing take the weapon out of her
hands. She also knew she had the strength to cut right through limbs and if she
put her mind to it, ribcages and so her fighting style was markedly different.

Less elegance, more butchery, Melosa had once said about
her, and Xena conceded the truth of that, but felt it wasn’t a handicap in war
when the object was to kill as many people as fast as you could. Her way of
fighting was messier, but people she went after usually went down, and stayed
down, unable to hurt her or people she cared about further.

No points for pretty moves. “Yhahh!” The warrior stayed
clear of Eponin’s fast moving blade and kicked two hooters out of her way,
driving her sword sideways from the other direction.

Another arrow whirred into her peripheral vision, and she
whipped her blade up to knock it aside, then yanked the sword back as the
hooter facing her tried to grab it. It sliced right through his hands, sending
blood spurting high in the air.

He stared at the stumps, then his eyes lifted to Xena’s
face.

“I’m gonna do you a favor.” The warrior said, as she locked
her arms and spun, her blade hitting him in the side of the neck and continuing
through it, removing his head as his eyes bulged, death taking him between one
breath and the next.

She kicked his head to one side and squared her shoulders,
taking a quick glance behind her to find Gabrielle.“You all right?” She called to the bard, who was standing
behind her, staff gripped firmly in both hands.

“Fine.” The bard yelled back. “Watch it!” She ducked past
Xena and engaged one of the attackers, catching the club he had aimed at her
partner with her staff and turning it aside with a neat jerk of her arms. “Stop
worrying about me!”

“Oh, sure.” Xena reached past her to swipe a pointed stick
out of one hairy hand, perilous inches from her partner’s navel. “How about I
stop breathing for an encore?”

“I saw that coming!”

“Uh huh.” The warrior turned back around, as she felt a
rushing presence coming at her and only barely had time to lash out with one
booted foot to keep two of the hooters from leaping on her.

“Watch your own self!” Gabrielle came to her side,
disregarding the danger of the arrows as she took on the right most male while
Xena struggled with the leftmost.The biggest of them had engaged the warrior, hooking her arm with his
ownas he tried to pull her away
from the rock and over onto her back.

He outweighed her by a good bit, and if it hadn’t been for
Xena’s wide legged stance and the weight of her hilt as she smashed him in the
face she’d have been in trouble. “Bastard!” She cursed at him, as he kept hold
of her and they wrestled, his hands fumbling as he tried to take the sword from
her.

She yanked her hands back away from him and twisted, making
him lose his balance and opening up his ribcage to a sudden, very violent sweep
of Gabrielle’s staff, which smashed into him with an audible crunch.

He howled.

Xena returned the favor as Gabrielle’s opponent leaped at
her. She caught him by the back hair and turned, using her weight and his
momentum to throw him headfirst into the rock behind them.

“Xena!”

DAMN IT!Xena
twirled her sword in her hand as she continued her motion around, dropping to a
crouch until she could locate the new threat.

An arrow sped by her, in the other direction, catching a
charging hooter in the eye and spinning him backwards just as Pony planted her
feet and gutted a second, grunting as the big male smashed against her, dying
as his arms paddled weakly at her.

A bark, a roil in the fog, and then they were retreating,
running off down the ridge to disappear into the forest leaving their fallen
comrades on the ground before the stones.

Granella sent them off in proper style, nailing the last in
the group with an arrow in the back, and watching in satisfaction as he pitched
forward and landed on his face on the ground, twitching violently.

“Blech.” Pony shoved the hairy body away from her and
watched in distaste as it slid to the ground. “Man, give me centaurs to fight
anyday.” She looked up as Granella came around the rocks, lowering her bow as
she went over to one of the fallen arrows and picked it up. “Yours?”

Granella held it up for her to see. The Amazon markings near
the feathers were plain. “But where’d they get a bow? I’ve got mine.. you
didn’t bring yours.”

Xena and Gabrielle exchanged looks. “From me.” The warrior
admitted. “I made one and dropped it days back.. didn’t figure they’d know what
to do with it.”

“Wow.” Gabrielle murmured softly. “I guess they figured it
out.”

“Figured out more than that.” Xena leaned back against the
rock, her drawn sword resting against her thigh. The length was covered in
dark, rich red which nevertheless reflected the early morning light.

“They were going for the blades.” Pony agreed, grimly.
“First bastard nearly got mine.” She winced, examining a bruise along the side
of her arm. “What in Hades are these things, Xena?”

Xena exhaled, letting her eyes search the rocky ground now
strewn with silent bodies. “Wish I knew.” She replied. “I don’t recognize half
the damn things in this place.”Her eyes lifted to the trees. “Bet getting through there now’s gonna be
a bitch.”

Gabrielle went to the closest of the bodies and knelt beside
it, laying her staff down as she rested her hands on her knees. His body bore a
few scraps of what might have been intended as clothing – strips of bark
wrapped around his waist and tied with…

She leaned closer, reaching out to touch the bark and pull
it over a little. The strands she’d seen were, indeed, threads from her own
skirt, probably taken during one of the scuffles. “Ew.”

“What?” Xena had been loitering behind her, and now she
knelt beside her partner.

Gabrielle untangled the thread and handed it to her. “Xena,
are you sure these things aren’t something Ares dreamed up?” She asked,
seriously. “They’re so focused on… killing things.”

Xena moved one of the creature’s arms, exposing a piece of
rock half buried in the dirt. She picked it up and examined it, shaking her
head a little. “They find everything.” She handed the rock over to Gabrielle,
who turned it over in her fingers.

“What is that?” Granella asked, curiously. “Looks like just
a split stone.”

“It is.” The bard gave it to her. “It’s a stone Xena split
right after we first got here.. trying to make something to cut with. I
remember the fault line there on one end, it reminded me of the river bend near
home.”

Pony knelt on the other side of Xena. “So.. you gave it to
them?”

“They found it.” Xena said. “Just like they found the bow I
dropped.”

“Dropped?”

“They tried to trick us into a trap.” Gabrielle explained,
sensing the prickling of Xena’s temper. “We found a deer.. they’d tied it up. I
guess they saw us kill the other one, or something.”

Pony looked a little confused. “Wait a minute. You’re
telling me these creeps were smart enough to trick you guys into falling for
something?”

Gabrielle leaned casually against Xena’s leg, feeling the
sub audible growling. “Not exactly.” She said. “We were just walking along and
heard the deer. Xena got close to it, but she figured out what they were up to
before they could trap us and she started kicking them around.”

“We’re sure.” Xena replied, in a clipped tone. “Let’s get
moving. The further we get in daylight, the better. If we have to fight our way
down into the valley it’s gonna be a long day.” She got up and walked towards
the nearby stream, sword twitching and twirling in her hand.

“This is really weird.” Granella stood also, giving her head
a half shake. “I’ll grab these. Gods know we’re gonna need em.” She started
picking up the discarded arrows, and then moved to get the ones she’d buried
into enemy flesh.

“Weird.” Pony agreed. “Guess I’ll go wash off too.” She
started after Xena, leaving Gabrielle kneeling somberly at the side of the
fallen hooter.

‘Yeah.” Gabrielle murmured, under her breath. “Gonna be a
long day.”

**

They walked into the forest single file, Xena in the lead.
Gabrielle was only a step or two behind her, and then Granella and Pony
followed, with Pony taking up rear guard as she worked on assembling a
serviceable bow.

Gabrielle was of two minds about this. On one hand, it was
slightly insulting to insinuate that she and Granella belonged in the middle,
protected slots. On the other hand, she wanted to be right near where Xena was
and the best place to protect her butt was.. well.. pretty much right at her
butt.

So there you go. The bard felt the path ahead of her with
her staff as she kept her partner in her peripheral vision, her senses watching
intently for the little signals that meant Xena’s far more powerful senses
detecting something.

Like her head sweeping to one side suddenly, the dark hair
brushing across her shoulders as she watched something go by. Or the stiffening
of her body, or the twitching of her fingers, all unconscious reactions to
something she’d heard or smelled or seen.

Xena wasn’t doing any of that right now, so Gabrielle
figured they were safe for the moment from attack. The warrior was striding
along the downward slope of the path, body bouncing just a little as she took
the shock of the hard ground through her bones.

She was wearing her catskin cloak, as the morning had stayed
chilly and Gabrielle was carrying their pack on her back with a bit of the
deerskin pulled from it to drape over her shoulders. It wasn’t really warm, but
she was moving and her body was generating enough heat from that so she wasn’t
uncomfortable.

Of course, she wasn’t really comfortable either, but she
wasn’t complaining. “Xe?” She took a few, quicker steps and came up even with
her soulmate. “You know what I think we have to be careful of?”

“Slugs.” Xena’s motion was only a flicker, as she drew her
sword, sliced a slug in half that was about to attach itself to Gabrielle’s
shoulder, and resheathed the weapon in nothing more than a blink of an eye.
“And I think we’ve got rain coming in again.”

“Thanks.” Gabrielle glanced at the sky. “Ugh. Yeah.”

They walked along together for a few minutes in silence, as
Xena picked the best track down. As they got past a steep, rocky piece, she
turned her head towards Gabrielle. “What?”

Gabrielle stepped around a boulder half sunk in the earth, a
frown on her face. “Honey.” She put a hand on Xena’s back. “You know I love
you, but is this any time to be quizzing me?”

Xena chuckled softly, and shook her head. “Never mind.” She
paused on a small ridge and held her hand up, her eyes detecting a tiny shiver
of motion below them. “Hold up.”

Gabrielle stepped to one side as Pony and Granella caught up
to them, and they all stood in silence, watching Xena study the path ahead.

“Okay.” The warrior slowly crouched down, resting her
forearms on her knees. “There’s a bunch of them, in that hollow down there.”
She pointed with her hand, all her fingers held close together. “They’re under
the canopy, near that outcropping.”

Xena glanced at her. “We’re going to attack them.” She
replied. “We’ll split in two teams.”

“Let me guess.” Pony said, in a serious tone. “Me and Gran,
you and her nibs.”

The warrior’s dark brows contracted. “This isn’t a joke.”

“I’m not laughing.” Eponin answered back. “G’wan.”

Xena studied her expression for a moment, then shrugged one
shoulder.“The path divides just
past those trees. You two take the left fork, Gabrielle and I’ll take the
right.” She went on. “When I signal you, start shooting into them. We’ll take
care of the rest.”

Pony absorbed this. “You want us to shoot into them while
you’re attacking from the other side.”

Xena nodded.

“What if we shoot you?” She asked the warrior, in a deadpan
tone.

“Gabrielle will come after you and beat you to death.” Xena
replied, in the same tenor. “Any other questions?”

Granella leaned on her bow a little. “So, what’s the goal
here?”

Xena hesitated. “To clear the path.” She said, after a
slight pause. “We’re in a bad spot up here.. if they see us, and come after us,
we’ll be fighting going uphill.”

Both Pony and Granella nodded. “Okay, sounds good.” Granella
said. “You guys be careful, huh?” She started down the path, staying close to
the trees and edging forward carefully. Pony picked up a bit of rock and tossed
it, then she got up and followed without a further word.

Xena sighed, leaning back and brushing against Gabrielle’s
leg. “Hades of a time for the shine to come off my reputation, y’know?”

Gabrielle patted her shoulder, and leaned forward to give
her a kiss on the top of her head. “C’mon. Let’s go keep our end of this
thing.”She said. “You think
they’ll run from us, if we attack them?” She held on to the back of Xena’s
leathers as the warrior stood up to keep her balance.

“I don’t know.” Her partner answered. “I’m just tired of
them always being one step ahead of us.” She dusted her hands off. “So, let’s see
what they do when the boots on the other foot.”

Gabrielle followed her down the path. “You do know they
don’t wear boots, right?”

“Gabrielle.”

“Just making that clear.” The bard said. “We really should
be careful not to show them any more tricks.”

Xena got to the split in the path and started to the right,
her steps becoming more stealthy.“Shh.” She uttered, warningly. “We’re upwind, but let’s not take
chances.”

We’re taking four scantily armed women up against a tribe
of super strong hairy manimals who want to rape and or eat us. Gabrielle mused. “Right.”She tucked her staff against her body and concentrated on
stepping in Xena’s bootprints “By the way.” She pulled her partner gently to a
halt. “That’s what I meant before.”

“What?” Xena pushed her up against a tree trunk and stood
there, peering past it. Then she looked at Gabrielle. “Meant when?”

Framed in the spattering of sunlight, the shadows seeming to
intensify her partner’s already intense nature, Gabrielle found herself in a
moment’s delightful trance. She leaned forward and gently kissed Xena’s parted
lips. “Never mind.”

She slipped past the warrior and took the lead, placing her
feet carefully on the dew damp path, not wanting a slip to betray her.

“Never mind?” Xena licked her lips and studied the tree
bark. “I think I’m losing my mind.” She sighed, giving the rough surface a pat
before she turned and caught up to Gabrielle, grabbing her by the back of her
Amazon belt and hauling her to a stop, so she could go past and take them down the
trail.

**

Granella got down on her belly, squirming carefully across
the rocky ground as they got closer to the glade the hooters were gathered in.
She had her bow cradled in her elbows, and she paused as they reached an area
of shorter brush before she continued on. “What do you think?”

Pony crawled up next to her. “I think they’ve both gone
nutters.”

Granella looked at her. “About the track.” She pointed
towards the brush with her chin. “That’s pretty exposed there.”

“Oh.” Pony put her chin down on a nearby stone and slitted
her eyes, surveying the path. “Sa’llright.” She decided after a moment,
crawling forward and into the cleared area. The grasses just covered her head,
and her motion through them stirred their tips only a little.

Granella took a last look around, then followed her, feeling
the chill wind send goose bumps down her back as it swept up the slope.

She’d never really been one of the tribe’s warmongers. Oh,
she’d fought when she had to, and done the training, and carried her share of
the load in terms of scouting, but she’d never felt in herself the love of
fighting that she knew Eponin did.

Hades, Granella exhaled. She’d never felt the level of
enjoyment in fighting that Gabrielle
did, for Artemis’ sake; and so, when she’d opted out of the Nation and joined
the populace of Amphipolis there was a certain, never admitted to relief
somewhere inside her that this type of thing had passed her by.

So here she was, creeping through the grass, bow in hand,
expected to put it to it’s most lethal use in what was facing up to be a
dangerous fight.

Just went to show you, she supposed, that adventure never
came to you on your terms.She
slid to one side and took hold of a rock outcropping, pulling herself up even
with Pony just shy of a sharp drop off. “We here?”

“We’re here.” Pony sidled further under the thick green
leaves of a wildly overgrown bush and shook the hair from her eyes as she
observed the now easily visible hooters below them. “There they are, the little
creeps.”

Granella set her bow down and lifted herself up a little to
see over the ridge. The hooters were clustered in a circle, yanking at
something with some excitement. “What have they got there?”

Pony shook her head. “Rabbit? Who knows?” She laid her
arrows out methodically, smoothing the feathers with a critical eye. “So.” She
studied the track across from them. “Think she’d do it?”

“Who?” Granella stuck the points of her arrows lightly in
the earth, easing up into a half sitting posture as she carefully parted the
leaves and tucked them aside to clear her aim.

“Gabrielle.”

The ex-scout pondered the question as she got herself ready.
“She might.” She finally said. “She likes those other things, and she’s pretty
pissed off at those guys. “

“I meant, ya think she’d come after my head if I stuck one
in Big X?”

Granella turned her head fully and looked at her companion.
“Without question.” She said. “And if you even think about it, I’ll stick one
in you.” She frowned. “I think you’re the one who’s gone nutters. They’re just
acting like normal.”

“Normal??”

Granella spotted Xena, emerging without a sound on the
outcropping above the hooters. “Sh.” She pointed. “Get ready.”

Pony rose up next to her and strung her bow, making sure she
had enough clearance between them so her bow arm wouldn’t hit Granella. “I
don’t think they’re nowhere near normal.”

Granella nocked an arrow, perversely glad of the
conversation that was taking her mind off what she was doing. “You’re just not
around them at home like I am.” She disagreed. “They’re like that a lot there..
it drives people nuts sometimes. They get so wrapped up in each other
everything else around them is just like.. ‘whatever’.”

“I ain’t never seen that.” Pony disagreed.

“You’ve never seen them like I have.” Granella shook her
head. “For sure, not with the tribe. Give me a break, Pony.” She saw Gabrielle
drop down behind Xena, the bard’s face set with resolve. “Get ready.” She
repeated. “We got the easy part of this.”

“Yeah.” Pony grumbled. “I should be over there instead of
her nibs.” She nocked an arrow. “Cept I know for damn sure she can’t hit the
broad side of a centaur with one of these.”

Granella smothered a wry smile, acknowledging the truth of
that. Gabrielle’s martial skills were really quite profound, with everything
except for sharp offensive weapons. Spears, arrows, swords… there was something
in Gabrielle’s makeup that shied away from using them, and it showed even in
the friendly contests she sometimes participated in.

She could throw a rock with stunning accuracy. Shoot an
arrow at the same target? Forget it. Everyone took off running when the bard so
much as picked a bow up, even Xena appearing nervous though she, at least, had
the skill to stop whatever it was from hitting inappropriate things.

So. Granella turned her focus on Xena’s partially visible
figure, as the warrior worked her way carefully closer to the hooters.

Watching Xena hunt was an ethereal experience, and she was
hunting now, every move timed to synch with the waving branches around her as
she flowed forward with the natural rhythm of the world. How in the world a six
foot tall armored woman could seem invisible was behind her, but in a sense,
Xena was.

Your eye went right over her, unless you really fixed your
attention hard, and now Granella watched in some fascination as Gabrielle
followed, her smaller, lither body even more difficult to discern since her
Amazon clothing and tanned skin blended with the brush where Xena’s stood out
like a bull in a herd of sheep.

Finally, Xena found a position she liked, and stopped,
coiling her body to leap. She had one foot on the edge of the rock ledge above
the hooters, and the other slightly back to push off and she went still,
Gabrielle going equally still behind her.

It wasn’t a huge leap to the ledge below, but it was higher
than Xena’s head.

Did Gabrielle realize that? Granella pulled her arm back,
her eyes fixed on the warrior. Sometimes the bard’s bravery crossed over
reckless, into the area where it overreached her physical capacity.

Did Xena realize that?

“Here we go.” Pony got up onto her knees and then put one
leg forward, bracing it as she drew her opposite arm back, tensing the
bowstring powerfully.“C’mon,
Xena. Stop posing.”

The warrior lifted a hand and made a sign, and they both
released their arrows at the same moment, rearming with serious intent as the
shafts bore down on the hooters and entered flesh.

Pony let out a battle yell as she released her second arrow,
pulling a third back and sending it flying as the hooters realized they were
being attacked and started scrambling frantically around.

Hoots rose, panicked and angry.The crowd of them rushed towards the front of the ledge, and
as soon as they did that, Xena leaped into the cleared space behind them,
landing without so much as a jar and drawing her sword in an easy motion.

The hooters grabbed anything in their reach and started
throwing it at the Amazons, and several started running up towards them. Xena
let out a yell of her own and attacked them from behind, as Gabrielle jumped in
behind her, landing with something of a greater bounce and far less grace, but
keeping her feet and sweeping her staff at the hooter nearest her who had
started heading uphill.

Xena hamstrung a shocked hooter, gutted him, then leaped
over his fallen body to engage the two behind him. She kept up a ferocious
yelling, and the herd of them suddenly panicked and bolted, running away as
fast as they could, two of them jumping right off the path and falling down the
mountain with screams of their own.

Gabrielle watched them leave, apparently a little
non-plussed, having expected a harder battle. She grounded the end of her staff
and looked at her partner, lifting her free hand in an eloquent shrug.

Xena walked over to the item the creatures had been mauling
over and knelt. After a moment, Gabrielle joined her.

“What is it?” The bard grimaced, rubbing one knee. “Sheesh,
Xe..that was a high jump!”

“Toldja to stay up there.” The warrior answered, absently,
as she examined the mass of black leather on the ground. “What in the Hades?”

Gabrielle studied it. “Is that armor?” She asked after a
moment. “It looks a little familiar.”

“Not exactly.” Xena spread out the remnants. They formed
what might have been a leather vest, finely tooled and intricate. “And it is
familiar.”She turned and looked
at Gabrielle. “It’s the one Ares usually wears.”

Gabrielle blinked in real surprise, reaching out in reflex
to touch the vest. “Wh..” She looked back at Xena. “What’s it doing here?” She
looked around, apparently expecting the vest’s owner to appear. “You haven’t
felt.. have you?”

“No.” Xena replied. “I haven’t.” With a frown, she folded up
the tatters and stood. “But maybe you weren’t so far off before and he is
involved in this crazy place.”

“Yeesh.” Gabrielle stood up, working her knee out as she
watched Pony and Granella approach.“Like we needed any more complications.”

The warrior chuckled briefly and followed, but her face held
a pensive expression as she rubbed her thumb over the leather bundle in her
hands.

**

They made it back to the old woman’s cave before
nightfall.It wasn’t as far as
they’d wanted to go, but with the sun setting, Xena held her hand up as they
came even with the opening. “Let me check it out. We know they know this
place.”

“Yeah?” Pony surveyed the opening dubiously. “Why not skip
it then?”

Gabrielle leaned against the rock wall as Xena slipped
inside the cave. “It’s the way out.” She wiped a bit of rock dust off her
forehead. “Anyway, I could use a break.”

“What you said.” Granella unapologetically sat down on the
path, rubbing the muscles in her legs. “Damn that was steep.”

Pony snorted, then followed Xena inside the cave leaving the
other two women alone outside. Gabrielle slid down the rock wall and sat down
next to Granella, extending both legs out with a sigh. One knee popped slightly
and she grimaced, rubbing it. “Ow.”

Granella turned her head to one side and observed her sister
in law. “Throw something out?”

“Nah.” The bard sighed. “I’ve twisted that one enough times
that it reminds me when I do something stupid like jump off a cliff.” She
rubbeda bit of dried mud off the
tan skin on the inside of her knee.A long scar was visible there, running down to her calf. “I should know
better than to just hop off ledges after Xena by now.”

“You could have asked Xena to take it easier coming up
here.” Granella commented. “She’d have.”

“No.” Gabrielle produced a wry grin. “She wouldn’t have.
She’d have put me over her shoulder and carried me. So you hush, okay?”She folded her hands over her stomach
and exhaled, glad of the chance to simply sit and watch the sunset.

They hadn’t seen a single sign of the hooters since the
fight. That worried all of them, and Xena had seemed tenser and more anxious
than usual as she roamed ahead of them scouting out the path. But other than a
few scattered animals, they’d had a peaceful climb up the side of the mountain.

Her knee was a little sore, and having to balance against
that put the rest of her body under extra strain. But Gabrielle felt her energy
returning as she rested and her mind shifted from thoughts of the walk to plans
for their camp.

She felt reasonably certain Xena would camp in the cave for
the night, regardless of the fact they knew the lower track down through the
cavern was pretty much unguardable. At least here they’d have shelter and the
narrow crawlspace was small enough for Xena to mount an easy defense with no
way for the hooters to attack her in numbers.

“Gab?”

Gabrielle turned, to find Granella offering her a waterskin.
“Thanks.” She took it with a smile, and sucked a mouthful from it. “Bet you’re
regretting that old wanderlust, huh?”

“Eh.” The other women chuckled wryly. “Hasn’t been so bad
for us, really.” She demurred. “First couple days.. well, and then we fell down
the waterfall. That kinda sucked.”

“For us too.” Gabrielle nodded.

Granella lifted a stone and peered at it’s speckled surface.
“Were you scared?” She asked, after a brief silence. “I was. Man, my heart went
right out between my teeth.”

The bard opened her hands to cup a splash of sunlight,
watching dust particles float in it as it reflected off her skin. “I wasn’t.. “
She paused. “I mean, yes, of course I was scared when we went over the edge,
you know?” She looked at Granella. “I’m scared speechless of heights..we were falling for what felt like
forever.”

“Yeah.” Granella nodded.

“But.. I…” Gabrielle drew her knee up and leaned her forearm
against it. “This won’t make much sense, but I wasn’t really afraid of what
would happen once we finished falling.”

The sun began disappearing behind the soaring crevice walls,
tinting Gabrielle’s face in a rich, golden light as Granella studied it. The
lines and planes of adulthood had lengthened the shape of it from what she’d
remembered when she’d first met the bard but the primary difference was the
expression in her eyes.

“Right.” Gabrielle agreed. “I’ve learned over the years
there’s a lot worse things that can happen to you than that.Besides, with Xena there, I wasn’t
really worried.” Her tone lightened appreciably. “If she’d started swimming us
both upstream, wouldn’t have surprised me.”

Granella shook her head and chuckled. Then she grew quiet.
“Well, to be honest, I was afraid of dying.” She admitted. “I think I’ve grown
out of being an Amazon, Gabrielle.”She paused, and after a period of continuing silence, she looked up to
find far more mature understanding than she’d frankly expected. “Does that make
any sense to you?”

Gabrielle squirmed a little closer, running her fingers
through her hair to remove windblown locks from her eyes. “That you don’t want
to get hurt, or risk your life? Sure.” She replied. “But you know, we don’t
have a lot of choice about that out here.”

The words did something to her, and she felt a cold anger
stir with shocking unexpectedness. Gabrielle reached over and whapped her on
the top of the head, making Granella jump back in startlement. “What?” She
sputtered. “Stuff that!”

“Ow!” Granella scrambled back out of reach. “That hurt!”

“It should have!” Gabrielle retorted. “What makes you think
caring about living or dying makes you a coward?”

“That’s not what..”

“That’s exactly what you said.” The bard cut her off.

“Hey!” Pony came back out of the cave. “What the Hades is
going on out here?” She put her hands on her hips as Xena emerged behind her.
“Hey?”

Granella rubbed her head. “Um.. nothing.” She glanced
quickly at Gabrielle, who had settled back against the rock with a mildly
abashed expression. “Find anything?”

Gabrielle demurely took her partner’s hand and allowed
herself to be pulled to her feet. She followed Xena inside and as she expected,
the warrior led her over to the ledge near the rear, not around in back where
the skeleton was.

Her knees were shaking from the sudden draining of
unexpected anger, and she was glad to reach the ledge and lean against it.
“Glad we found someplace dry and warm.. I’m sure we could all use it.”d

“Uh huh.”

She shrugged their pack off her back and started to open it,
pausing when she sensed Xena standing next to her in expectant stillness.Instinctively, she looked up, reading
the warrior’s body posture easily. “Um.. hi.”

“Hi.” Xena took a seat on the ledge next to where she’d set
the pack. “So what’s the deal with Pounding Pauline out there?”

Gabrielle glanced furtively at the entrance, which was still
conspicuously empty of Amazons. “Gran was just being goofy. I whacked her one.”

Xena blinked, her head drawing back in surprise. “You did?”

The bard sat down, her hands cradled around the skull cup.
“I did.” She admitted. “Not sure where that came from.”

Xena studied her partner, a frown crossing her face. “She say
something to you?” She guessed. “About me.. about us, or?” Her voice trailed
off as she watched Gabrielle shake her head no. “It’s not like you to haul off
an hit people, Gabrielle.”

Gabrielle pondered a moment, then she shrugged. “Long
day.”She sighed. “Tell you what..
I’ll see what I can scrounge us up for dinner if you go tell Gran I’m not a
nutball.”

Blue eyes went a bit rounder. “You want me to explain you to
her?”

The bard nodded.“Gwan.” She gave her partner a nudge. “Tell her I’m…” She paused.

No, that was very true, now that Gabrielle recalled.However.. “No.. I.. “ The bard set the
skull down and picked on up one of Xena’s hands instead. The contact made her
entire body relax, and she found herself sidetracked momentarily by the strong
sensation.

“Gabrielle?”

The shakiness faded, and she felt her equilibrium settle
nicely. She brought their joined hands up and kissedXena’s knuckles, catching the faint hint of rock dust and
leather on her skin. “Gods, I love you.” She exhaled. “Listen, forget I said
that. I’ll take care of Gran. I don’t really want them to know we think I’m
pregnant, okay?”

“Uh.. sure.”

“Any chance of some fish in that water hole in back?”
Gabrielle absently nibbled her partner’s skin. “I know it’ll beat the nuts I
have in my bag.”

“See if I can find some.”

Gabrielle looked up at that, to see the wry, bemused
expression on Xena’s face.She was
about to speak, when Pony and Gran enter the cave. She squeezed the warrior’s
hand instead, and got a nod in response, as Xena got up. “Thanks.”

Xena ruffled her hair gently. “Okay.” She addressed the
other two. “I’m gonna see what fish I can catch in the pool back there. Grab
some firewood.”

“You’re gonna fish in the dark?” Pony queried. “Why not wait
for us to build a fire, then take a torch? You gotta do things the hard way all
the time?”

Xena paused near the entrance to the back passageway and put
her hands on her hips. “It’s always dark back there. Fish are used to the dark.
Put light in, they all leave. I’m not looking to fish for the next ten
candlemarks, thanks.”With a toss
of her head, she disappeared into the shadows.

A small silence fell. Pony looked at the empty spot the
warrior had left, then she turned and looked at Gabrielle. “Scuse me.” She
said. “You both cycling or something?”

The bard propped her elbow on her knee and rested her chin
on her fist. “Something.” She agreed wryly. “Sorry about that.”

Pony shook her head and began gathering some of the
scattered sticks on the floor. Granella picked up a few rocks and started
making a fire circle, refusing to meet Gabrielle’s eyes.

Sheesh. The bard went back to her task, taking out the
supplies she had in her pack and sorting them. Gonna be a long night.

“Figures we get stuck in a cave. I hate sleeping on
rocks!”Pony groused.

“Aint’ that the truth.” Granella agreed, in a glum tone.

Really long night. Gabrielle pulled out the tattered wad of
leather and stared at it, then silently put it back in the pack.Now they had another mystery to worry
them. Was Ares really involved?

Or wasn’t he?

**

It was long after dark. The fire had burned down to a
friendly orange glow, and the campsite was somberly quiet.

Pony was seated near the entrance to the cave, sword drawn
with it’s hilt resting inside the curl of her fingers as she watched fireflies
whisk about outside. She had her back to the rest of the group, but her hearing
told her nothing was going on, so she was content to focus on the world outside
instead.

If she turned and looked, she knew she’d see Granella curled
up on one side of the fire, making herself as comfortable as she could on the
rocks and using her pack as a pillow.

Across the fire from her, Gabrielle was also curled up,
making herself as comfortable as possible and using Xena as s pillow.Pony shook her head, unable to really
believe the two of them were as goopy as they were, even though she’d known them
for years.

When had Xena turned into such a softie? Pony peeked over
her shoulder, watching the warrior as she watched her partner sleep, the look
of adoration in her eyes positively embarrassing.“Sheesh.”The
weapons master returned her attention to the darkness outside. “What the Hades
is up with that?”

“You say something?” Xena’s voice projected to her, low and
vibrant.

“Me?” Pony made a show of turning around to look. “Naw… you
hearing things?”

Blue eyes that were tinted gold in the firelight gazed
steadily back at her. “I hear lots of things.” The warrior asserted. “Some of
them useful, some not.”

Pony snorted, and returned her attention to the path
outside.

Xena waited to see if more snippy comments would be
forthcoming, and then, when they weren’t, she settled back against the rocks and
draped her arm over Gabrielle’s dozing body again. The bard was lying on her
side with her head in Xena’s lap, her hand curled around the warrior’s knee.

Gabrielle wasn’t entirely asleep. Slight movements of her
hands, and shifts of her body indicated the exhaustion of the long day wasn’t
quite overcoming the discomfort of the stone she was lying on.She gently ran her fingers through the
bard’s hair, delicately rubbing Gabrielle’s scalp just behind her ears.

“Mm.”

Xena felt a light, warm touch of lips against the skin on
the inside of her thigh, and knew a moment of quiet thankfulness for this most
profound blessing in her life.

“Hey, Xe?” Gabrielle squirmed and rolled over onto her other
side, now facing her partner. “Remember when I told you I thought those hammock
things you made us for the trees were a bad idea?”

Xena actually couldn’t remember any such thing, but she
nodded anyway.

The warrior glanced around the cavern, in all it’s shadowed
mystery from the fire, and regarded the rocks thoughtfully. Hammocks. Gods be
damned, whyhadn’t she thought of
that? There were plenty of places to hang the damn things in the places they’d
been. “Mm.”

“I’d like to be in a hammock right now.” Gabrielle said,
mournfully. “With you,of course.”

Gabrielle rolled onto her back and regarded the craggy
ceiling. “I don’t think we’re going nuts.” She said. “I thinkwe’re just acting like we always do
when we’re alone, and they can’t deal with that.”

Xena considered that, as she slowly riffled through
Gabrielle’s hair, her fingertips tracing the bard’s well shaped skull under
it’s thick covering. ‘Yeah, I guess.” She said, after a short pause. “I just
don’t feel like acting any other way.” She continued, her brows creasing. “Not
sure why.”

Gabrielle thought she knew.Their travels together after they’d visited Athens had given
them so much time alone, that they’d come to a place in their lives where they
were both very comfortable in their skins with each other.

So why pretend otherwise when other people were around? Let
them think whatever they wanted to think. “Same reason we ended up moving,
maybe.” She whispered. “I didn’t want to have to act like Gabrielle the bard,
or Gabrielle the Amazon queen all the time. I just wanted to be me.”

Something in the words rang unexpectedly true in Xena’s
ears. It had to do with the expectations everyone always had of her, and how
that had just grated, and grated, and grated on her when they’d come home,
until she’d felt like backhanding all those avidly watching faces.

Yeah. “Think you’re on to something there.” She murmured.

“Wasn’t really the growth of the town.” Gabrielle said. “It
was all those people watching me like I was some three headed goat all the
time.”

Gabrielle nodded, little things that had been puzzling her
now making a lot more sense. Perhaps this wasn’t the time to really be thinking
about it, but she’d learned to take her revelations where she found them, and
at least, this was something she had a chance of explaining to Cyrene when they
got back.

Besides, this was a lot more pleasant than the notion the
both of them were just getting to be anti social grumps in their old age,
wasn’t it?The bard gazed up at
her partner’s face, outlined in the reddish firelight. “You know something?”

“I know I love you.”Xena ran her fingertip along the edge of Gabrielle’s sensitive ears, and
watched her face twitch in response.“What?”

“All these years I’ve been telling stories about you… what I
really wished was that people could see you like I do.” Gabrielle smiled. “I
can’t help it if it’s freaking them out.”

The warrior shrugged, and chuckled softly.

They were both briefly silent. Then Gabrielle shifted her
focus, lifting her hand and rubbing the backs of her knuckles against Xena’s
leg. “You going to get some rest?”

“I could watch for you.”Gabrielle felt Xena’s hand cover hers, and their fingers
laced together. “I’m tired but I’m just not sleepy.”

That about described how Xena felt too. Her body was tired,
a little, mostly from the tension of watching and listening for the hooters all
day. But her mind was going in circles to the point where only the fact that
she was providing her partner a pillow was keeping her from pacing.

“Damn I wish we were home in bed.” Gabrielle sighed. “And I
miss Dori.”

“Me too.” Xena admitted. “Hope she’s not running Eph
ragged.”

Gabrielle rolled onto her side again, squirming forward so
that her forehead was resting against Xena’s body. It took the pressure off her
shoulder a little and if she ignored the fact that her hip was going to be sore
in the morning, it was almost bearable.

Gods, she hated sleeping on rock. The last few years most of
her worst nightmares had happened around mountains and there were times she
wished they just lived in the flatlands with nothing more picturesque than
blackberry bushes to look at.

Xena’s hand touched her shoulder. With no more warning than that,
Gabrielle immediately rolled over and lifted away from her, ducking her head
gracefully as Xena drew her sword in flickering silence.

She got to her feet right behind the warrior, lifting her
staff up and taking hold of it as Xena moved towards the back corridor in utter
silence. A quick look over her shoulder showed Pony unaware of the movement,
and though Gabrielle took a breath to call a warning, something made her close
her mouth again and follow Xena instead.

She could hear nothing from the darkness, but she had no
doubt her partner had, and now as she walked carefully in the dark haired
woman’s footsteps, she could see the shifting muscles under her skin as her
body prepared to fight.

Easily visible under her leathers, it reminded Gabrielle irresistibly
of some prowling, hunting cat as she watched the warrior’s spine arch, and her
powerful shoulderblades spread under their layers of sinew.

It was automatic. Gabrielle could even sense the dark energy
stirring inside her, that seductive tickling her own body tiptoed closer and
closer to understanding as time went by.She could feel Xena’s breathing deepen, and saw her thigh muscles tense,
knees unlocking slightly and then stilling.

She steadied her balance and slid her grip lower on her
staff, her eyes shifting to either side of Xena’s figure as she searched the
shadows ahead of them.

Xena lifted a hand, made a sign.

Gabrielle stepped to her left, and crouched slightly,
clearing the warrior’s sword arm, the tip of the blade twitching not far from
her as Xena held it reversed in her hand.

Now, her ears picked up the faintest of sounds, the barests
of rasps, skin against rock as something or someone walked in bare feet towards
them.

Xena took another two steps forward, positioning herself on
the side of the opening, her body protected by the rock, as she cocked her
sword arm, ready to deal with whatever was going to come around the corner at
them.

Gabrielle shifted her grip on her staff and waited in
silence, readying herself to deal with whatever would happen after Xena handled
the initial attack.At least, it
sounded like only one of whatever it was.

A flicker of motion in the shadows beyond the rock.

“Hey!” Pony’s voice cut the silence like a knife. “What in
Hades are you two doing?”

A soft gasp, then the sound of running feet.

“Son of a bacchae.” Xena bolted into the darkness, swinging
around the rock in the blink of an eye and disappearing. “Stay HERE!”

Gabrielle glanced at Pony. “Bad timing.” She called, as she
took of after her partner. “Be right back!”

Pony gaped after them, as Granella rolled to her feet in
groggy surprise. “Wh..” The weapons master blurted. “Hey!”

Granella raked her hair from her eyes and stared into the
dark crevice. “I get it.” She rubbed her face. “Now I finally get it. They
don’t get into trouble.”

“What???” Pony yelped.

“They make it.”Granella grabbed her bow and quiver. “C’mon.. take that torch there.
Let’s go.”

Cursing, Pony grabbed a wrapped branch and paused to light
it, then hurried after Granella into the shadows.

**

The sound of motion drew her quickly on as she rounded the
corner and headed down the passageway, the creature she was chasing collided
with one of walls in a scrape of skin against stone, and she moved faster,
suspecting it was their little friend still hanging around where they’d last
seen him.

Stupid bastard.

Xena knew she had only a few heartbeats to catch their
silent stalker, before the dark became too dark for her to track efficiently.
Not to mention, before Gabrielle would come plowing into her from behind since
she could already hear the distinctive footsteps headed in her direction.

She caught a glimpse of a shadow moving in front her and
instinctively she lunged for it, letting her body handle the lack of light and
the uncertain surroundings as best as it could, her other senses stepping up as
she moved through the darkness with easy skill.

Her ears picked up heightened breathing, and the familiar
male musk made her nose wrinkle as she closed in on her quarry, her body
sliding past rock outcroppings she couldn’t see.

Her fingers brushed skin, then a grip fastened on her throat
and warrior instincts took over as she found her air cut off. She swung her
sword arm around in a tight, fast circle, her wrist rotating her sword from reverse
to forward and then underhand as she plunged it into the body of the creature
holding her.

She heard a gasp, then a scream of pain, and the grip
released as the scent of hot blood exploded into her senses and the creature
slumped into her, fingers clawing at her leathers as he sank to his knees.

A torch flared behind her, and she turned her head to see
Gabrielle’s figure outlined in crimson light, just as her mind brought her
around to the realization that the body slumped against hers wasn’t misshapen
enough.

Wasn’t hairy enough.

A vague alarm rang in her skull as she yanked her sword back
out and lowered the body to the ground. “Bring that torch!”

Gabrielle was at her side in an instant, her hand falling on
Xena’s shoulder. “You okay?”

“Fine.” Xena knelt as Pony and Granella picked their way
over, Pony holding the torch up as it’s flickering light cast dancing crazed
shadows on the rock walls. “Not sure what I’ve got here.”She turned the slumped form over, just
as Gabrielle knelt next to her and gave her a hand. “I don’t thin…”

For a moment, there was absolute silence in the passageway,
the lick of the torch sounding harsh and loud as it reflected off four very
stunned faces.

“Oh my g..” Gabrielle, typically, was the one who found
words first. “Xena… wh..”

Xena was staring in profound incomprehension at the burly
figure lying half across her thigh, it’s muscled, naked body covered in blood.
“Ares.”

The closed eyes flickeredopen and found hers, and any doubt was gone.But this was no god. “Figures.” The
lips shaped the word, then the eyes closed again, and Ares head rocked to one
side,his body relaxing into
unconsciousness.

There was another moment of utter silence. Then Pony
shifted, moving the torch from one hand to the other. “Did.. um..” She
muttered. “Did you just kill the God of War, Xena?”

Xena stared down at her blood covered hands, her mind
spinning in chaos.

“He’s still breathing.” Gabrielle’s voice almost sounded
normal, warm and surreal. “So.. I.. um, guess we’d better get him into the
front cave there, so Xena can take care of him.” Her hand squeezed Xena’s
shoulder gently. “Pony, put that torch in the crack there, and get on this side
of him.”

Xena mentally blessed the bard’s presence of mind, as she
forced herself to shove aside the shock and concentrate, as Gabrielle was, on
the practical.She set her sword
aside and wiped her hands on her thighs, feeling the stickiness of the drying
blood as she surveyed the damage.

Gods.What was
he doing here? What was he doing… mortal? How?

The warrior suddenly felt somewhat lost, and afraid. As much
as she claimed to scorn the gods, and her disbelief in them, still.

Still, this was the one god tied more closely to her life
than any other. The one god she knew in her heart understood her in ways even
Gabrielle didn’t.

“Xe? Can you grab his legs there?”

Live in the moment, Xena. The warrior got one arm under the
fallen god’s knees and braced herself, nodding to Gabrielle as the bard helped
the other two lift Ares’s upper body. She stood with them, and they struggled
back up the path, leaving the torch to flutter emptily over blood stained stone
and somber shadows.

**

Gabrielle picked the deer skull up and paused, watching Xena
for a moment. The warrior was standing near where they’d lain Ares down,
watching with haunted eyes as she flexed her hands almost compulsively.Pony and Granella were standing
awkwardly by, not really sure of what they could or should be doing now that
the first shock was wearing off.

Well. Gabrielle walked over to her partner. “Here.” She
offered her the skull. “Why don’t you get some water, and I’ll get the needles
out.”

Xena studied the skull, now clasped in her hands. “Yeah.”
She nodded. “Clean up a little too.” She turned and returned to the shadows,
pausing only to pick up her sword before she headed back into the corridor and
the small, dark rush of water she’d found back there.

Gabrielle knelt next to the still form and lifted up her
carrysack, sorting through the contents inside it as she searched for the fishbone
needles Xena had fashioned.She
looked up as Pony approached, seeing the apprehension on the Amazons’ face.
“Hey.”

“Uh, hey.” Pony crouched down next to her. “Is there.. um..
something we can do?” Her eyes flicked to the fallen god.

Gabrielle studied her. “Sure.” She took Pony’s hand, and
pressed it down on the square of cloth covering the gaping gash in Ares side.
“Hold that.”

“Uh.”

“You asked.” The bard set the needles aside, and added a
coil of gut to them. “Gran, can you build up the fire a little?”

“Sure.” Granella replied briskly. “Be right back.”

Gabrielle finished her task, and then she regarded the
injured god with a tiny shake of her head. Aside from Xena’s gut wound, his
body was covered in bruises and scrapes, and there was a set of claw rakes
across the plane of one cheek. “I don’t’ get this.”

Pony goggled at her. “What?”

“Him.” She replied briefly. “Mortal.”

Pony looked around, then looked back at her. “Like in… why?”

Gabrielle nodded. “Why. How.” She exhaled. “Last time it was
all.. “ Her voice trailed off, as far off memories surfaced. “Hm.”

“Last time?”

The bard nodded again. “Poor Xena.”

Pony gave up trying to make sense of any of it, and just did
what she was told, keeping pressure on the still bleeding sword wound in Ares
chest. Xena’s sword had passed
just under his ribcage most of the way through his body, and she had to wonder
if even a god.. or .. a mortal-ish god.. or.. whatever this was could survive
it.

She studied Ares face, having seen him close up only once
before, during the war. Now, there was far less arrogance there, and far more
of something she almost found familiar.Sort of. If she could only..

“All right.” Xena returned, dripping wet and carrying her
damn skull full of water, splashes of it surging over the edge as the warrior
dropped to her knees. “Let’s get this over with.”

Pony found her eyes drawn to Xena’s face, it’s angles
standing out starkly with her hair plastered back and sparkling with water.

She blinked, and looked down at Ares. Then she looked over
at Gabrielle, who lifted her head as though feeling the attention, and met her
gaze.

“Thanks, Pony.” Gabrielle told her. “I think we do need to
keep an eye on that corridor.. no telling what’s going to be following him up
here.”

“Gotcha.” Pony stood, gratefully. “I’m on it.” She went to
get her sword, and then walked back to the rear hallway, drawing it from it’s
scabbard and letting the blade rest on her shoulder.

“I’ll keep an eye up front.” Granella said, without
prompting, as she finished building up the fire.

“Thanks.” Gabrielle repeated, finally turning her full
attention to her quiet partner. “Oh, Boo.. we’ve done it now.” She uttered,
under her breath.

“Ungh.” Xena slowly shook her head, as she threaded a needle
and studied the gash she’d put in Ares side. “Know what I just realized?”

Gabrielle sorted through the immensity of the possibilities.
“No, what?”

The warrior’s hands paused, and she turned her head to look
at her partner. “They’ve got the sword they were looking for.”

In reflex, Gabrielle’s hand came up to her mouth, as her
eyes widened.

Without further word, Xena went back to her task.

Gods.

**

The sun rose over the edge of the trees, splashing a somber
coral glow over the side of the mountain path and lending a warm touch as it
passed over Xena’s outstretched legs.

She turned her hands over and flexed her fingers in the
newborn light, rubbing her thumb over the scraped and roughened skin on her
fingertips, releasing a relieved sigh that it was finally daylight and the long
night was over.

It almost felt like the dawn was rising over a completely
different world. Xena watched the stark landscape around her come alive, birds
rousing and launching into flight, and insects starting to buzz around a nearby
bush.

Her nose picked up the smell of the rocks, and the water far
below, and the trees angling down the slope. Then her nostrils twitched as she
detected the faintest hint of mint. She closed her eyes and concentrated, and
with the mint, she smelled cloth, and leather, and smoke tinged skin and with
the scuff of boots on rock, Gabrielle appeared.

“Hi.” The bard stopped next to her and slowly lowered herself
to the ground, tucking her boots up crossed under her as she handed over a
steaming cup of tea. “Thought maybe you could use this.”

“Ooohh. Yeah.” Xena took the cup and cradled it in both
hands, bringing it to her face and inhaling the freshly scented steam deep into
her lungs. “Thanks.”

Gabrielle rested her elbows on her knees and blinked into
the sunlight, feeling the exhaustion lurking at the fringes of her
awareness.Xena had finished
sewing up the gash she’d put in Ares, but the injured god hadn’t regained
consciousness, and she found herself wondering what in the world they were
going to do now.

“Tired?”

Gabrielle rolled her eyes in her partner’s direction.
“Very.” She replied. “I know you are.”

“Mm.”Xena
slowly sipped the tea.

Gabrielle remained quiet for a few minutes, merely sitting
there basking in the sunlight and Xena’s presence. The cave behind her had
become a place full of unanswered questions and she had no real desire to
return to it.

She was still shocked, even now. Shocked to see that
familiar, often hated face lying there. Shocked to see the blood, the bruised
skin; the unexpected humanity that reminded her unexpectedly of a long
forgotten trial of her own life she’d put firmly in the past.

A nudge on her shoulder made her look up, to find Xena
extending the cup to her. She took it, finding it still half full before she
had to pull it up hastily as the warrior shifted and laid down on her back,
putting her head in Gabrielle’s lap. “Oh… you okay?”

Xena rested her cheek against Gabrielle’s stomach and curled
her arm around the bard’s waist. “Just needed you.”

What a coincidence. Gabrielle set the cup down and laid one
arm over Xena’s stomach, smoothing her hair back with her other hand. “Tough
night.”

“Mm.” Xena closed her eyes. “I just keep thinking.. what do
we do now?”

“Yeah.” The bard murmured, engaging herself in savoring the
silky feel of Xena’s hair against her fingers. “I don’t know, Xena. If you
don’t know, how can any of us know what to do?”

The warrior sighed.

“I mean, it’s not like you and I have this book around, you
know?The one that tells us what
to do when gods fall out of Olympus on us and we meet talking elephants.”

Gabrielle smiled, running her fingertip down the bridge of
Xena’s nose, and watching the pale eyes almost cross as they followed her
hand.“I’d love that almost as
much as I love you.”

Xena smiled back, then let her eyes drift closed again.

“Xe?” Gabrielle murmured, after a long silence. She watched
one of Xena’s eyebrows twitch. “Is he going to be all right?”

The warrior didn’t answer for a while, then she made a face,
the bridge of her nose wrinkling. “I think so.” She allowed. “I was expecting
someone shorter.”

“Ah.”Gabrielle
grunted softly.

“Should have known better than to grab me like that.”

The bard could hear the defensiveness in the tone. “If he
knew it was you, of course he should have.” She said. “Sweetheart, it was pitch
dark in there. You did what you had to do.. I would have done the same thing.”

Xena’s nearer eye opened, and she regarded Gabrielle with a
mildly droll expression.

“Eh. Okay.” Gabrielle conceded. “But I would have smacked
him really hard with my staff if he’d grabbed me in the dark, let me tell ya.”

The warrior shrugged one shoulder. “They had his armor, and
he sure didn’t have it.” She replied practically.“Let’s just hope it’s just a sword to them.”

Gabrielle felt a chill run down her back. “You think it’s
more?”

Xena shrugged one shoulder again.

“It won’t.. um.. make one of them the god of War, will it?”

Would it? Xena tried to remember all she’d heard about the
powers of Ares infamous sword.It
was tied to his godhood, that she knew. Or.. well, it was tied to his being the
God of War, at any rate. “I think you already have to be a god before the sword
makes you anything special.” She answered, after a long, reluctant pause.

“Ah. Yeah, that makes sense.” Gabrielle murmured. “Yeah, I
remember.. in Athens, when Aphrodite was talking about that bet.. it was just
that he’d lose the sword, lose being God of War, not that he’d be a mortal or anything.”

“Right.”

They were both silent for a bit.“So.. how’d he become mortal?” Gabrielle finally asked.

Xena opened both eyes and looked plaintively at her.
“Gabrielle, you have the same damn information I do.. what makes you think I
know that if you don’t?”

“Because you’re Xena, and you know everything.” The bard
replied, in a placid tone.

“You can just kiss my..”

“Can’t. You’re lying on it.” Gabrielle smiled at her, as she
covered the warrior’s lips with her hand. “You ready to go inside and see what’s
going on?” She altered her tone to a more serious one. “We have to figure out
what we’re going to do now.”

Xena sighed, letting her eyes once again close. She didn’t
want to go back inside the cave, and face both the injured god and the need to
decide what to do, even though she knew the bard was right and that they had
to.

Maybe if she waited long enough, Pony would decide what to
do.

Yeah right. As if.

Gabrielle’s fingers ruffled through her hair again, pausing
to gently massage her temples.She
could the bard’s stomach grumbling, though, and she could feel the sun inching
higher over both of them, so she gathered herself to get up and lifted her head
out of Gabrielle’s lap, pausing to kiss her on the way up.

“Mm.”The bard
hiked one knee up and trapped Xena in place with her arm, taking her time about
returning the kiss while providing an impromptu backrest for her.“Now that’s a good way to start the day
off, isn’t it?”

“Perfect way.” Xena agreed. “But we’d better go get you fed
before that noise brings down an avalanche.” She nudged her partner in the ribs
with her head, and smiled as Gabrielle enfolded her in a warm hug before
letting her go.

She got to her feet and pulled the bard up with her, turning
to face the entrance to the cave just as Pony emerged from it, rubbing her face
with one hand. “Morning.” Xena greeted her.

“Ugh.” The Amazon groaned. “I’m too freaking old for this
all night crap, Xena.”

Pony glanced after the warrior, then she looked furtively at
Gabrielle. “She freaked?”

Gabrielle leaned back against the rock wall, savoring the sunlight
now pouring down over her. It had been cold in the cave, despite the fire and
her bones had ached from it. “I think…” She glanced at Pony. “I think she’s
more freaked about what this does for our getting out of here, than anything
else.”

“No crap?”

“Mm.” The bard nodded, as she watched Pony’s face, vivid in
the sunlight. There were dark circles under her eyes, and the strain was
showing too. “We matter. He doesn’t.”

Pony folded her arms across her chest, and squinted into the
dawn. “I can’t even think about that being the god of war in there.” She
admitted. “It’s just too weird.”

Gabrielle half shrugged, and pushed away from the wall.
“Yeah, well.. let’s go figure out what we’re gonna do with him.” She turned,
but stopped as Pony put a hand up to still her. “What?”

The weapons master let her hand drop, a little uncertainly.
“Just.. how do you deal with that?”

“Deal with what?” The bard was guiltily glad for another few
moments of clean air and sunlight. “You mean with Ares?”

Pony shrugged.

Gabrielle shrugged right back. “Not really much of a choice
involved, you know?”

“Huh.” The Amazon rubbed her face again. “You okay with
him?”

“Ares?”

“Yeah.”

“Um.. no, actually, I’m not.” Gabrielle gazed down at the
rock path, drawing a line in the dust with the tip of her boot. “I hate him.”
She grimaced briefly. “He’s done things to us that make me wish Xe’s sword had
been just a little higher last night.”

“Uh.”

“You asked.” She turned and walked inside, leaving Pony
standing there, trading the warmth for the gloom of the cavern.A few steps inside, she paused feeling
Xena’s eyes on her as she spotted the warrior kneeling next to Ares.

Two pairs of blue eyes were looking back at her. Gabrielle
dismissed one, and focused on the other, as she continued her path around the
fire to where her partner was, laying a hand on her shoulder as she came even
with her. “I’m going to see what I can dig up for us to eat.”

Xena nodded. “Gran’s fishing in the back.” She replied
briefly.

Gabrielle finally let her eyes drift over and meet Ares.
They were missing their usual brash arrogance, and she could see pain and an
unusual emotion reflected there that slipped past her better judgment to touch
at the wellspring of compassion never buried too far inside.

It frustrated her. “I’ll go find her.” She turned her
attention back to her soulmate. “Anything else you need?”

A grin shifted Xena’s features from tense to charming. “Got
everything I need right here.” She replied, looking the bard right in the eye.
“But if you find blackberries, I won’t turn em down.”

From the corner of her eye, Gabrielle saw Ares roll his and
that made her smile, too. She patted Xena’s shoulder and moved past, heading
for the back corridor with it’s lonely skeleton and it’s mysteries leaving the
warrior to dispel some of the newer ones in her own inimitable way.

Maybe she’d help Gran fish.“Gran?” She called out, as she rounded the corner and
looked forward, where the torch was fluttering in the dark.